From
my perspective Mt Taranaki / Egmont (2518 metres) is
the central point of many awesome and individual landscapes. This oil
painting is the second in my initial series inspired by the landscapes
surrounding New Zealand’s great Taranaki / Egmont volcano.

I based the oil painting ‘Out Standing in Our Field’ on the
farmland seen from the side of Opunake Road just beyond the Dawson Falls
turn off. Here Mt Taranaki / Egmont regains it’s beautiful conical
shape, apparent only from the landscapes around the northern and south
eastern faces.

This oil painting germinated only an hour or two after an early start
from Stratford, after what appeared to be a disastrous start. After a
huge drive from Christchurch ending the evening prior, we emerged from
the cabin at the base of Mt Taranaki / Egmont on our first day of image
hunting, full of enthusiasm, only to find that there was nothing to see
beyond a thick bank of dense, low, grey cloud that completely shrouded
the mountain.

Deciding not
to give in and linger around Stratford while waiting for the cloud to
lift, we chose to explore the ring road system around the base of Mount
Taranaki / Egmont to find some vantage points for when the weather improved.
As we headed toward Dawson falls and having travelled only minutes down
the road, the heavy cloud began to thin out and the awesome snow covered
summit of Mt Taranaki / Egmont flickered into view.

By the time
we made the Dawson Falls turn-off the entire mountain was in clear blue
sky and at the base of Mt Taranaki / Egmont the low cloud streamed off
from the Stratford side, with amazing fingers, possibly con trails, emerging
from the top. This landscape had to become an oil painting.

I chose the base image to work with for its classic, perhaps even clichéd
green and blue representation of Taranaki, complete with dairy cattle,
but offset in a funky and maybe quirky sort of way… This Mt Taranaki
/ Egmont painting is vibrant yet still very representational, and at one
and a half metres long the original oil painting is definitely large format.

The landscapes
surrounding the southern and Western faces of Mt Taranaki / Egmont comprise
of lush farmland, a significant part of New Zealand’s dairy farming
industry. The temperate climate and fertile soils make Taranaki a premier
dairying area by world standards.

33% of Taranaki
farms are dairy farms, which together produce about 20% of New Zealand's
milk. The dominant dairy breeds are Friesians and Jerseys, Friesians are
depicted in this oil painting.